Off topic, but I'm curious, do the Swans fans here like all eras of the band? I'm really only a fan of the early stuff, up to and including Children of God. The albums that came after have some good moments, and I like most of The Great Annihilator, and I haven't checked out the newer releases.

The releases I come back to most are Cop, Young God, Greed, Holy Money, A Screw, Time is Money (Bastard), which all happen to be on the Cop/Young God and Greed/Holy Money compilation releases.

I guess I like all eras very much.
I´d say the EPs are the best concerning their bleak and monolithic style, even better than Filth I´d say. Children of God must be my ultimate favourite with White Light... following closely behind. Still I spin basically everything from them on a regular basis.
I still have to let The Seer sink in, at least they were brilliant when I saw the live recently._________________A nobody in a world of somebodies.
A little debil ain´t enough.
Black market list

Cauchemar is, whilst entertaining and even unique for what essentially is "another retro-doom band" (can't help to think of a fuzzed-out, heavy, Yé-yé girl group when listening to their music), an overall neglectable band. I do enjoy their music and will purchase their debut album upon its release next year, but you won't have missed The Next Big Thing if you just pass them by. Try "Magie Rouge", that's the song that made this band click for me.

Mare, however, I consider to be amongst the most promising "newcomer" bands in contemporary black metal.

A band firmly rested in traditional black metal - although they seek to reinterpret these traditions rather than attempting to replicate them -, the attention to detail in Mare's music is incredible, the great effort that goes into their compositions is apparent (and probably one of the reasons why they've released so little within their ten years of activity), and the records simply ooze atmosphere (I like to compare "Offerlam" off of the "Spheres Like Death" EP to the introductory track of Emperor's "Wrath of the Tyrant" demo in the engulfing effect both have on the listener).

I believe they can be compared to Mgła (especially Mgła's "With Hearts Toward None" album), both in regards of musicianship and atmosphere: simply put, it's very well-made black metal with true insight into what this style of music needs to be done justice to. "Nidrosian Moon Sabbat" off of the "Spheres Like Death" EP is probably the song most representative of Mare's qualities.

Initially, I dismissed Svartidauđi as "just another DsO clone", as the (SMRC era) influence on the "Flesh Cathedral" tracks known to me is as undeniable as it is obvious, but gave them another try recently and realised that my verdict was, probably, wrong - or at least insufficient. If you enjoy DsO (I don't, at least not very much), you may as well enjoy Svartidauđi. Their music, to me, seems to be more vivid and intimidating than DsO's, perhaps because of the absence of overly religious hodge-podge and the greater focus on "individual decay" - the lyrics seem to come from an almost death metal point of view -, and the overall stylistic refinement ("by the mercy of late birth", so to speak). Although I don't particularly favour them, I can't deny that they're quite good at what they're doing.

Cauchemar is, whilst entertaining and even unique for what essentially is "another retro-doom band" (can't help to think of a fuzzed-out, heavy, Yé-yé girl group when listening to their music), an overall neglectable band. I do enjoy their music and will purchase their debut album upon its release next year, but you won't have missed The Next Big Thing if you just pass them by. Try "Magie Rouge", that's the song that made this band click for me.

Mare, however, I consider to be amongst the most promising "newcomer" bands in contemporary black metal.

A band firmly rested in traditional black metal - although they seek to reinterpret these traditions rather than attempting to replicate them -, the attention to detail in Mare's music is incredible, the great effort that goes into their compositions is apparent (and probably one of the reasons why they've released so little within their ten years of activity), and the records simply ooze atmosphere (I like to compare "Offerlam" off of the "Spheres Like Death" EP to the introductory track of Emperor's "Wrath of the Tyrant" demo in the engulfing effect both have on the listener).

I believe they can be compared to Mgła (especially Mgła's "With Hearts Toward None" album), both in regards of musicianship and atmosphere: simply put, it's very well-made black metal with true insight into what this style of music needs to be done justice to. "Nidrosian Moon Sabbat" off of the "Spheres Like Death" EP is probably the song most representative of Mare's qualities.

Initially, I dismissed Svartidauđi as "just another DsO clone", as the (SMRC era) influence on the "Flesh Cathedral" tracks known to me is as undeniable as it is obvious, but gave them another try recently and realised that my verdict was, probably, wrong - or at least insufficient. If you enjoy DsO (I don't, at least not very much), you may as well enjoy Svartidauđi. Their music, to me, seems to be more vivid and intimidating than DsO's, perhaps because of the absence of overly religious hodge-podge and the greater focus on "individual decay" - the lyrics seem to come from an almost death metal point of view -, and the overall stylistic refinement ("by the mercy of late birth", so to speak). Although I don't particularly favour them, I can't deny that they're quite good at what they're doing.

Pretty much all UG bands mentioned on this board. Meaning the ones with embarrassingly hilarious names that release worthless tapes on unknown labels from some 3rd world country, sound like generic black metal garbage.